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STAR OF THE SHOW

/noticias.info/ Tim Howard produced another clean sheet as the United States completed their World Cup qualifying preparations with an impressive draw against Argentina.

The Everton goalkeeper came up with four spectacular point-blank saves from Julio Cruz in his hometown of New Jersey in front of a bumper crowd of 78,682.

Howard will play again this weekend in Carson against Barbados as the USA begin their qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup and, not surprisingly, the Everton man is in buoyant mood.

"Tonight it was about standing up for ourselves, believing we could get a result," Howard said. "We stood up to the challenge. It wasn't always pretty at times."

Both sides ended the friendly with 10 men in a fiercely contested encounter.
The United States lost Pablo Mastroeni to a second yellow card in the 71st minute and Argentine captain Javier Mascherano got two yellow cards in the 86th for a studs-up tackle on LA Galaxy's Landon Donovan, who was earning his 100th cap.

At just 26, Donovan, the US captain, became the fourth-youngest player in the world to make 100 international appearances.

Howard put on a show in the first half in stopping Cruz four times from in close, including three breakaways.

The goalkeeper made a sliding leg save on Cruz in the fifth minute and then got to his feet quickly to punch away the rebound attempt. Howard made another sliding stop in the 28th minute after Lionel Messi made a great pass into space to send Cruz in alone.

Howard denied Cruz again during the first-half injury time with a sliding stop. notas_de_prensa_archivo